You will be creating a website or a PowerPoint presentation about yourself -- an autobiography -- that shows how you are personally connected to history and the world around you.

 

But how am I connected to history?

 

Everything about you is connected somehow to history or to the culture of our times, or to the times of the past. For example:

 

• Was your grandfather a soldier in World War II? He’s connected to that bit of history, and you’re connected to him.
• What was going on in the news on the day you were born? Who was the President? You’re connected to that part of history by the coincidence of your date of birth.
• Did you ever see a famous event take place, or meet a famous person? That connects you to history, or to popular culture, which helps create history as well.
   

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Here are the steps involved. Each item in this list is a link; click it to see what's involved in each step and to get the assignment that will show you how to get it done.

• An autobiography is the story of your own life.

• Think of yourself as a visual medium.

• Connect yourself.

• Be prepared.

• Take pictures.

• Write your rough draft.

• Almost done!

• Hand it in.

 

 

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An autobiography is the story of your own life.

 

• Before you can connect yourself to history, you need to step back and think about yourself and your own life.
  
  Assignment #1: Create a web that shows who you are and who the people and places are that are connected to you.

 

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Think of yourself as a visual medium.

 

• Your final project will be in the form of a website or a PowerPoint presentation. Each of these is a “visual medium” – that is, it’s a form of communication that relies heavily on images and on the way each page and section looks to get its points across.

 

Assignment #3: If you were a website (or a PowerPoint presentation), what would you look like?

1. What colors would you be?
2. What kind of font would you want to be written in?
3. You’ll need to have pictures. Do you want lots of pictures of yourself, your friends and family, or would you rather use pictures of places and things that you can get from the Internet?
4. Would you be moving around? (Will there be animated objects?)
5. Describe your website/presentation in any other visual ways you can think of.

 

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Connect yourself.

 

• Your final project will have to include live links to actual Internet sites that show how you relate to history, geography, society, and culture.
   
• Example of these kinds of links are:
• History: One of your ancestors took part in some historic event. Maybe someone was a soldier in the Civil War. When you write the part about that person in your autobiography, you will write something about the Civil War. Then you highlight those words and make them a link to a Civil War site you have found on the Internet.
• Geography: Everyone was born someplace. You can create a link to the place you were born, or to the country you or your ancestors came from.
• Society: You may have some connection to a famous person. For example, perhaps you once met the President, and have a picture of yourself shaking hands with him. You’ll write about this, include the picture, and create a link to the White House’s website for the President.
• Culture: You can include some of your hobbies, as long as they are significant in our culture. For example, if you wanted to write a section about NASCAR, you would have to link to the history of car racing, when the first NASCAR race took place, who invented that kind of car, and so on.

 

Assignment #4: Look through what you’ve written so far – those paragraphs that you put in order – and underline everything that could possibly be a link.

 

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Be prepared.

 

• Your final project must be in the form of a website or a PowerPoint presentation.

 
• Review your skills in these areas and decide which format you are going to use. NOTE: Your final project will not be posted on the public Internet.
• Be sure that you have a way to save your work. You can use the school network’s hard drive, or you can save everything on a flash drive. Floppy disks are not to be used.
• If you need technical help in creating your project, ask for it!

 

Assignment #5: On your flash drive or in your my Documents, create a folder called im_name. using your own last name in place of name. For example, if your name is Bob Smith, create a folder called im_smith. Inside that folder, create another folder called graphics.

 

Website note: If your project is a website, your first page must be called index. That and your other pages will be in the im_name folder. All of your images will be in the graphics folder.

 

PowerPoint note: If your project is a PowerPoint presentation, your finished project will be saved as a slideshow (a .pps file) and will be in the im_name folder. You’ll save all your pictures into the graphics folder.

 

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Take pictures.

 

• Your final project must include pictures.
• A website project must have a minimum of four pictures or images on each of its three pages.
• A PowerPoint project should have a picture or image on almost every one of its fifteen pages.

 

• What kinds of pictures do I need?
• You may use photographs of yourself and your family and friends, if you choose to and if you have them in an electronic format, but this is not required, and all pictures used must be relevant to your writing. Don’t make this a scrapbook of your friends.
• You can use the clip-art that comes with PowerPoint or your website-creation software, but no more than one of these per page.
• You can look for images on the Internet. The best way to search is by using Google/Images.

 

• How do I save my images?
• Save a copy of each image you are using in your graphics folder. All images must be in .jpg or .gif format.

 

Assignment #6: Start collecting and saving your images. Remember, you need a minimum of 12 to 15.

 

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Write your rough draft.

 

• Using PowerPoint or your website creation software, put together your first draft of the project.
• Use the paragraphs you’ve written.
  • NOTE: The first page (website) or first section/few slides (PowerPoint) must be about YOU. This is a requirement. The other pages or slides can be about family members, places you've visited, historical events or times that have impacted on you or your family.
• Insert your pictures where you think they should go.
• Look for websites that correspond to the topics you’ve underlined in your written paragraphs and link to them.
• IMPORTANT!!! All of the sites you link to have to be good websites with authority behind them. NEVER link to someone’s personal website or blog. Be sure that you’re not just linking to a page that sells something related to your topic. Look for the best possible website for each link. Example: If you’re talking about baseball and you want to link to the Yankees, make sure it’s the official website of the Yankees, and not a page on eBay that sells Yankees memorabilia.
• NOTE: You are required to have 15 good, solid, appropriate links to outside websites in your project. If you have more, you will get extra credit for them. A website should have about 5 per page. A PowerPoint should have roughly at least one per slide, but none on the title slide. You should create a link in any spot you can possibly create one.

 

Assignment #7: This rough draft is your assignment. Remember, if you need help at any time, or just want someone to review your project in the rough draft stage, ask!

 

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Almost done!

 

• Proofreading and tweaking is the way to take your project from rough draft to finished product.
• Check to make sure that every word is spelled correctly and that there are no typos.
• Make sure that every link works the way it’s supposed to, and that you have links connecting your own pages to each other.
• It’s okay to add more at any time, or to delete something that you think doesn’t work well, as long as you meet the requirements.

 

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Handing it in: The Final Assignment

 

• On any school computer, log in and double-click My Computer.
  • Double-click the O: drive to open it.
  • Open the folder called Library/AV.
  • Open the folder called I'm History!
  • Open the folder for your class period.
• Copy your entire im_name folder to this folder, the one for your class period inside I'm History!
• Print out a copy of the rubric you need (links below) or pick up a blank copy in the library or from your teacher. Write your name on it and the name of your im_name folder. Give the rubric to your teacher.

The rubrics are in .pdf format, and will require Adobe Acrobat to open.

• The website rubric is here.
• The PowerPoint rubric is here.

The alternate sample website is here.

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